Broadband News

Post Office Broadband service up and running

May 2007 saw the Post Office announce it was to expand its Home Phone to offer broadband. The service using a 'white label managed
service' from BT Wholesale is now up and running. Vodafone at Home uses the same service to allow them to run a broadband service without massive up-front infrastructure costs.

HomePhone with Broadband Extra: The £25.95 monthly fee includes free evening and weekend calls, telephone line rental, up to 8Mbps connection speeds and unlimited downloads (subject to
fair use policy. Twelve month contract, wireless router, free set-up and a security
suite that includes parental controls.

HomePhone with Broadband Standard: £21.95 brings the same calls and line rental deal, but broadband usage is limited to 5GB and a basic ADSL modem (not wireless) is included.

Broadband Extra: £20.95, exactly the same as Broadband Extra above, but no calls or line rental package.

Broadband Standard: The 5GB package for £15.95 but with no line rental or calls package.

The Post Office will accept orders where a new telephone line is required, and this is charged at £110, which is lower than the standard BT Retail price of £124.99. When ordering they will check
whether they will need to install a new line or can take over the existing line at a property.

Watch out for the surcharge of £1 if you do not pay by Direct Debit. The fair use policy on the 5GB service appears to allow you to exceed the allowance occasionally, but they will ask you to
regrade to the more expensive package if you regularly exceed the usage level. For those looking to join the Terabyte a month club, the fair use policy on the Extra product should put you off as they
reserve the right to cancel the connection leaving you liable for any remaining months of the contract and possibly excess usage charges.

The pricing is uniform across the UK and as such will probably represent serious competition to the TalkTalk phone/broadband bundles, with the advantages that no problematic unbundling processes
are used, and the minimum contract is for a shorter (12 month) period.

Comments

After the recent post strike it beggars belief that they think anyone would trust them with a broadband/email service.

"Thank you for contacting support. We are all out on strike at the moment but if your call is urgent please go to your nearest picket line"

keith_thfc

over 10 years ago

They should worry about getting our letters delivered in a timely manner, and earlier in the day.

shaunhw

over 10 years ago

You both beat me to a postal strike joke. Come on then lets have your best Royal Mail Broadband joke.

gayboy-ds

over 10 years ago

"For those looking to join the Terabyte a month club, the fair use policy on the Extra product should put you off as they reserve the right to cancel the connection leaving you liable for any remaining months of the contract and possibly excess usage charges."

How is this legal?

What's to stop them having a ridulously low FUP cut off point just so they can kick you off after a few weeks and still claim payment for the remainder of the 12 month contract?

keith_thfc

over 10 years ago

If you sign up and tick the box that says you agree to the terms and conditions, then you've agreed to them.

If the FUP means users going over 10GB on the £25.95 service are kicked then that should standup as unfair as far as consumer law goes, but as you go to higher figures things become more vague? Is 20GB fair? 50GB? 100GB?

andrew

over 10 years ago

quote keith_thfc"Thank you for contacting support. We are all out on strike at the moment but if your call is urgent please go to your nearest picket line"
LMAO that about sums it up, my god this story was just asking for strike gags lol

CARPETBURN

over 10 years ago

Royal Mail handing my e-mail? I already get enough spam from them through my letter box, I don't want more in my inbox.

SimpleRules

over 10 years ago

"What's to stop them having a ridulously low FUP cut off point just so they can kick you off after a few weeks and still claim payment for the remainder of the 12 month contract?"

Nothing whatsoever. Except that it's probably not legal.

Also, I'm not asking Royal Mail to send my letters. I'm asking the government to let other people than Royal Mail send my letters.

Dawn_Falcon

over 10 years ago

Royal Mail and The Post Office operate at different levels and as virtually separate companies. Royal Mail isn't the one operating the Broadband Service, the Post Office is....... Mixing the two together shows an extreme lack of understanding.

Garyilka

over 10 years ago

"What's to stop them having a ridulously low FUP cut off point just so they can kick you off after a few weeks and still claim payment for the remainder of the 12 month contract?"

That would appear to fall foul of unfair terms and conditions legislation. Companies ought to stop making illegal terms and conditions but under Nu Labour it seems they can get away with anything. See also the penal level of bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts and the like.

pasoundman

over 10 years ago

"Royal Mail and The Post Office operate at different levels and as virtually separate companies. Royal Mail isn't the one operating the Broadband Service, the Post Office is....... Mixing the two together shows an extreme lack of understanding. "

You're missing the point. Most people think they are part of the same overall operation.

keith_thfc

over 10 years ago

"That would appear to fall foul of unfair terms and conditions legislation." be interesting to know how. The unfair terms laws appear to be about denying consumers their rights, rather than what is perceived as "fair" by one party.

herdwick

over 10 years ago

>> You're missing the point. Most people think they are part of the same overall operation. <<

No I'm not - those posting comment suggesting that they are the same and that Royal Mail strikes wil somehow have something to do with a Post Ofice Broadband service are those who ae missing the point.

I any case - I bet the helpdesk will be somewhere overseas with a BT Broadband script.. :)

Garyilka

over 10 years ago

"No I'm not - those posting comment suggesting that they are the same and that Royal Mail strikes wil somehow have something to do with a Post Ofice Broadband service are those who ae missing the point."

What matters is the brand perception, not the underlying reality of who manages what. If people think they are one and the same then their sales will suffer.

Anyway I'll give this service a miss as I hear Northern Rock broadband is due out soon.

:-)

keith_thfc

over 10 years ago

Garyilka, they're in the same business group. Different business in a group sell different services. They still are in the same group. Your point?

Dawn_Falcon

over 10 years ago

Reading this brought back memories of when I started Post office in HULL as a postman, we had an exchange in the old post office in Hull till they moved out and left LOADS of old redundant wiring etc.
AHH those were the days.

postie90

over 10 years ago

quote"Anyway I'll give this service a miss as I hear Northern Rock broadband is due out soon."

My god can you imagine the contention and throttles on that service LOL

CARPETBURN

over 10 years ago

Try this

QUOTE
I have examined PO's FUP. It is not 'fair' and is likely illegal.
Cl 3 PO give NO b/width figs.
Cl 4 "if . . . your usage remains excessive we may cancel your subscription."
PO fails to define "Excessive", assuming one party may impose any hidden figure it likes.
Cl 5 "Should we have to cancel . . . for excessive usage you will still be liable for any outstanding sums"
"Have to cancel" - nonsense. NO necessity on PO's part - the decision is conscious.
PO's wilful concealment of any means to KNOW the limits, almost certainly renders illegal PO's claim to “outstanding sums".

Tropi

over 10 years ago

Dunno what you are trying to say there Tropi but it sounds no different to any other FUP

CARPETBURN

over 10 years ago

It looks stilted because of the incredibly low text limit on here!
Those are illegal conditions of contract, totally advantaging one party to the total disadvantage of the other.
No matter how many other contractors attempt to impose illegal contract terms, unfair contract terms remain illegal.

Tropi

over 10 years ago

They offer an "unlimited" service and then say it's subject to limitations - COMPLETELY contradictory and ambiguous.. and if you don't comply with their unstated specifications they threaten to cancel you. The user is switching on every day not knowing if within the next minute he could be cancelled for exceeding his unlimited bandwidth allotment! How do you exceed an unlimited allotment - defies logic!

JohnsGirl

over 10 years ago

THE definition of UNLIMITED excludes the possiblility of "excess" doesn't it?

JohnsGirl

over 10 years ago

The old arguement about what the word unlimited means is pointless, i will agree though that every provider should have to give you an idea on what they consider excessive use is, if they dont tell you that then you have no idea if your use is excessive. "UNLIMITED" broadband technically doesnt exist not just in usage terms but many other things, arguing the word unlimited is a pointless exercise.

CARPETBURN

over 10 years ago

If ISP's stopped using it, sure Carpet.

Dawn_Falcon

over 10 years ago

Technicalities, schtechincalities! Unlimited is WELL understood to mean 'within the technical limits' NOT "whatever, whenever WE choose"!

What IS pointless is passive whinging and grovelling. Active, well argued, formal complaints to providers, industry bodies, Fair Trade and legal bodies are what is needed and I have started. Add weight to complaints, don't surrender and die on your knees.

Tropi

over 10 years ago

quote"Active, well argued, formal complaints to providers, industry bodies, Fair Trade and legal bodies are what is needed and I have started. Add weight to complaints, don't surrender and die on your knees."

Or you can just change to a more honest provider, which saves you the time, hassle, stress and your money dealing with bozos.

CARPETBURN

over 10 years ago

Anyone got an update on their 'fair usage' policy implementation in real life.

Do/can they throttle or otherwise limit downloads if at or near 'excessive' use?